1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a message communication method in a portable wireless terminal, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for controlling a NEW MESSAGE alert in a wireless communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the continuing development of the electronic and communication industries, usage of portable wireless terminals is becoming more popular, and portable wireless terminals are now being developed to have multi-functional features for satisfying user's demands. In addition to a call function, portable wireless terminals provide various additional functions such as a phone book, game function, scheduler, short message service (SMS), Internet access, and e-mail.
Among the additional functions, the SMS function is most frequently used. Recently, as portable wireless terminals have become multi-functional, the SMS is being developed into a multimedia messaging service (MMS) that can transmit images as well as text messages. In the following description, the term “message” will be used to include a multimedia message as well as a conventional text-oriented short message.
Conventionally, when receiving a message from a transmitting terminal, a receiving terminal generates a NEW MESSAGE alert using one of a ringtone, a vibration, and a lamp (silence) depending on settings preset by a receiving user. However, if a receiving user is sleeping or doing an important business, the NEW MESSAGE alert (e.g., ringtone) may disturb the receiving user against the sending user's will. On the other hand, if a NEW MESSAGE alert of a receiving terminal is set to “silence”, a receiving user may fail to detect an urgent message received from a sending user.
As described above, because the NEW MESSAGE alert is unilaterally set by the receiving user, it is impossible to give consideration to the situation of the sending user.